Comfort Creates Complacency. That little painted square of sidewalk confronted me on a recent walk. I do not know who painted it on the sidewalk in my neighborhood nor why.

But I didn’t care much for the sentiment.

I rather LIKE comfort. I change my work clothes for something more comfortable when I get home. I like comfortable furniture, comfortable temperatures, comfortable relationships, a comfortable life.

Yes, my head understands that a comfortable life is NOT the life God calls us to BUT….I’ll admit it…..that’s what I desire. How about you?

So when one of the speakers, Judy Peterson, spoke about our “soil being disturbed” at our women’s Triennial convention last month, I didn’t care much for that, either. I understand the concept. It TOTALLY convicted me. And I recognize that is exactly what God is doing in “my garden,” but it still scares me. Still makes me “uncomfortable.” And as I said, I like comfort.

But I am trying to submit. I told God that I would. I prayed a while ago that He would use me, that I gave Him permission work in my life, etc. I was nervous about it, but I did it anyway. I said it. Actually I’m still shaking about it but….

The theme of the whole convention was Rooted so obviously, all the talks and sermons related in some way to plants. Judy’s sermon was no different.

She spoke about the Parable of the Sower, renamed by her as the The Dirt on the Dirt because the soil is what we should focus on. Seeds can grow even in poor conditions, but it won’t be as fruitful as it was intended. God the Sower and His seed, will continue to be scattered and sprout wherever He wants them to. She explained that we need to ask ourselves if the soil of our lives is a good environment for the Kingdom of God to grow…to reach its full fruit-bearing potential.

“One of the great hindrances to Kingdom growth is soil that has not been disturbed. There’s no way for the seed to take ROOT; it just lies on top of the soil. it’s unable to accomplish the purpose that it was designed for, and the soil misses out.”

“For a relationship with Jesus to grow, life has to be disturbed. Otherwise it will simply become a banquet table for Satan.”

“Jesus was so disturbing; we’ve made him so undisturbing…You have to be ready to have your well-worn path utterly disturbed.”

Something that I really liked about this part of the message was something she said several times: The soil misses out.I’ve never thought about it that way.

TO BE CONTINUED…..

But if you can’t wait, go to this site and listen to Judy Peterson’s talk. It’s a little long BUT SO WELL WORTH IT! Not only does she speak truth, she’s funny. YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY YOU LISTENED TO THE WHOLE THING. I need to listen to it several times.